Atlantis
"For many generations…they obeyed the laws and loved the divine to which they were akin…they reckoned that qualities of character were far more important than their present prosperity. So they bore the burden of their wealth and possessions lightly, and did not let their high standard of living intoxicate them or make them lose their self-control… But when the divine element in them became weakened…and their human traits became predominant, they ceased to be able to carry their prosperity with moderation.” ― Plato on Atlantis. '''Founder: '''Atlan '''Notable Leaders(Ancient): '''Atlan, Kashekim Nedakh(C.12,000,00 BC-1914), Atlas, Kastor, Triton, Queen Kida Nedakh, King Milo Thatch, Namor McKenzie, History No empire changed the fate of humanity similar to Atlantis, the eight continent. Although scientists claimed for hundreds of years, that Africa would be the cradle of humankind, but with the help of Atlantean chronologists it was confirmed, that the Atlantean continent was the place where humans first appeared. About 20,000 BC, during the Upper Paleolithic, Atlantis was the the home of the world's first civilisations, like the kingdom of Kn'aa located near Mount Yaddith-Gho, as well as kingdoms like Commoria, Valusia, Thule and the island empires of Lemuria. All of these kingdoms were worshipping (and sometimes even were directly ruled by) a triad of three powerful, godlike beings: Zoth-Ommog, Ghatanothoa, and Ythogtha, the sons of Cthulhu. Outside these civilized monarchies lay a harsh wilderness. However, Atlantis was cursed by the actions of its first King Atlan in battle against Cthulhu and sunk below the sea for the first time. The survivors became brutal barbarian warriors like Kull of Atlantis, who would later be the last king of Valusia. Yet despite its sinking, Atlantis was not gone.The ancient mineral of Orichalcum protected its citizens. In the following centuries, the ancient Yuggoth-worshipping kingdoms were suppressed by the flourishing empire of Melniboné, which had been founded by Shadow-walkers coming from the parallel world Amber, the one true world of Order. The callous and eternally beautiful Melnibonéans established a powerful empire, using their armies of dragons and sorcerers. Making use if their dragon mounts, powerful magic and ocean-going ships, Melniboné led first explorations and raids eastwards, reaching and attacking the coast area of what would later be North Africa during the Hyperborean age. During the time of Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné and facet of the Eternal Champion, the capital Imrryr was the only surviving city, while the other territories were turning into wilderness once more due to unknown reasons. At the same time, the Atlanteans hunted the worshippers of Cthulhu, including the aquatic Deep ones, remains of the cult of Cthulhu left the continent, founded the city of R'lyeh in the Pacific Ocean near the South Pole. Sometime around 9,500 BC, the Hyperborean Age ended. Beings known as the Titans, supernatural entities with god-like powers. Led by Cronos, the Titans seized power over most of continental Europe, stretching their rule from Scandinavia to the area around the slowly growing Mediterrean Sea and from the Atlantic coast to the vast steppes of Eastern Europe. With the desire to extend their realm even further. The children of the Titans would later become the gods of Greece, leading to a rebellion throughout the Titans' empire called the Titanomachy. After the war, the Olympians' leader Zeus rewarded his brother Poseidon with the rule over the sea as well as over Atlantis. But Poseidon prefered to be a nomad roaming over the ocean and thus he crowned his son Atlas as the first king of the newly founded Empire of Atlantis. Ruling from the capital of Poseidonis, the Atlantean Empire quickly seized power over most of the land that borders the Atlantic Ocean as well as the Mediterrean Sea. Atlantis established hundreds of colonies and outposts all over the world: In Italy, there was the Atlantean colony Poseidonia, Phoenician traders made contact with Atlantean cities in Mesopotamia calling Atlantis "Antilia" and in Scandinavia existed various trading and scouting outposts with established first contact and trade between the Norse, Atlantis and soon even Greece. The origins of Greece go back to ancient, initially Atlantean cities like Knossos and Mycenae, which spread civilisation all over the Greek Peninsual and which would later be claimed by the Olympians, forming the first poleis. The jungles and coasts of Africa were marked by wealthy city-states like Opar, while the natives of these regions refered to Atlantis as "Atlantioi" and "Atarantes". After the Egyptian gods made first contact with the Olympians, the mighty god Thoth himself studied at the universities of Atlantis, bringing knowledge, wisdom and, most importantly, a system of writing to Egypt. Even Mesoamerica was colonized by Atlantis, which founded outposts where later would be the realms of the Mayas and the city of Aztlan. This type of imperialism was extremly expensive, but the government of Atlantis was able to afford it thanks to trade with the native population living in the area around their colonies as well as the mining of orichalcum, a copper-colored metal considered second only to gold in value. But Atlantis' power wasn't only thanks to its colonies and trade, the powerful Atlantean army and, especially, fleet were a major factor for its rise, too. Atlantis led numerous wars against dozens of foes. Maybe the first and the longest lasting of these wars was the battle against the surviving worshippers of Cthulhu with finally led to the sinking of their capital city R'lyeh. After the Greek city-states were claimed by the Olympians and thus became independant from the Atlantean Empire, Atlantis attempted to invade and recapture Athens. But the Atlanteans did underestimate the power of the young Greek polis and the naval invasion ended in a disaster and the defeat of the fleet sent by Atlantis. But Atlantis had more luck in other encounters, like the invasion of Egypt witch started around 1220 BC. Simply called the "Sea Peoples" by the Egyptians, the Atlantean fleets managed to overwhelm the pharaoh's navy, leading to the invasion of Ugarit in 1192 BC during an eclipse, thus pushing the battle from the sea to Egyptian territory. At the same time, Atlantis attempted to conquer Britannia, but the native Celts, who called the invaders the "Firbolgs", proved to be decent warriors. In 1194, the Trojan War erupted after the abduction of Helen, the future wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Atlantis agreed to aid the Achaean forces in the siege of Troy and sent their own mighty fleet, led by the most skilled warlord of Atlantis: Arkantos. After ten years of warfare, the city of Troy fell to the united troops led by Agamemnon and Arkantos, who managed to trick the defenders using the famous Trojan Horse. After the fall of Troy, the Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans savagely and raided the temples, thus provoking the wrath of the gods. Arkantos and his friend, the Greek hero Ajax, were on their way home, when they encovered a plot of the cyclops Gargarensis, who attempted to free the very Titans themselves by opening one of the four gates leading to Tartarus. In the following weeks, Arkantos and his allies defended the gates located in Greek, Egypt and even Scandinavia, leading to Gargarensis' assault on Atlantis, where the last remaining gate existed, shortly after Odysseus visited the continent which he called "Sheria". Arkantos and the other defenders had considerable success early on, until the golden statue of Poseidon came to life and ran havok in the harbor of Atlantis, leaving only one conclusion: Outraged because of the desecration of the Trojan temples, Poseidon allied himself with Gargarensis and the Titans. Not able to withstand the wrath of a god, the Atlanteans had to withdraw, leaving Atlantis to its fate: Destruction and sinking, caused by its very own deity. With the death of most of the Atlantean nobles, Arkantos' son Kastor seized power over the surviving Atlanteans, although many of the survivers had already sailed away to the west, founding the Maya civilization. Manipulated by the Titan Cronos, Kastor led the remaining survivors to the south, founding a city called New Atlantis somewhere at the Antarctic coast and established a cult worshipping the Titans. The Greeks were angered with the Atlanteans' new choice of gods, and attacked them. After the destrucion of Sikyos by Atlantean troops, the Egyptian and Norse armies came to aid their Greek allies, triggering a naval war taking place in the Mediterrean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Manipulated by the Titans, Kastor led an assault against Mount Olympus, thus freeing the Titans from Tartarus. Realising he was only a tool of the Titans, Kastor deserted and allied himself with his father Arkantos' friends. The allied forces of Greece, Egypt and the Norse managed to destroy the Titans Cerberus, Ymir and Prometheus and closed the gate to Tartarus located inside the sunken Old Atlantis, thus ending the Titans attack and banishing them once again. Kastor returned to New Atlantis and decided to cut off contact with the northern realms. In the following centuries, the people of New Atlantis followed ancient rituals of Poseidon, slowly transforming into mermen and mermaids. During the rule of Triton, Poseidon's last living son and father of Ariel the Little Mermaid, the mermankind revived the Atlantean Empire, but this time the empire ruled over the world under the sea: The creatures of the oceans became the new population of Atlantis and many intelligent sea peoples joined the empire as vassals, most notably the Kelpies, Kappas, Sirens, Naiads, Klabautermänner, Finfolk and Water-Babies. Many well known beasts of the sea were tamed by the Atlantean mages and sea hunters as well, like Jörmungandr, the Kraken, the sea dragons, Scylla and Charybdis, the Rainbow Fish, the white whale Moby Dick, the crew of the "Flying Dutchman" and even Calypso, goddess of the sea. The more human brethren often persecuted the Mermaids, leading to three separate Kingdoms of Atlantis being established bearing the same name. the mostly human, the Merman breed with some fishlike qualities and Atlantica, ruled over by Triton. In 1914, a group of people led by Professor Milo Thatch discovered the Human Atlantis. Thatch would marry Princess Kida, who would rise Atlantis out of the ocean, though this would have the consequence of the Nation becoming an active force during the first World War. In 1939, the half-Atlantean Namor the Sub-Mariner became the new heir to the throne of the Merman Atlantis. At the start of his rule, the Atlanteans returned to their ancient city of origin and resurrected Atlantis, raising it once again to the surface of the sea. Namor restored contact with the "surface dwellers", but not in a diplomatic way. Instead, his troops began to raid the Atlantic coast areas, intending to claim back the territory of their old empire. US President Craig Stanley made a deal with King Milo Thatch to keep Namor at bay but this would hardly be necessary as Namor would be opposed by the Human Torch and later the Atlantean troops joined the Allied Powers against the Axis Powers during World War II. With the increasing technological level of the surface, the sea began to suffer because of pollution, encouraging Namor to establish an Atlantean common line of environmentalism. Despite Atlantis' fight against environmental damage, itself suffered great loss: The city was damaged heavily by nuclear testing. Outraged, Namor led a vendetta against the surface, attacking even New York with a giant tidal wave and battling the Human Torch. Namor went missing. After Namor's disappearance, rogue Atlantean elements declared once more war on the surface, opening the fight with the Battle at the Panama Canal. The war encouraged Arthur Curry, another half-Atlantean half-human, to become a superhero known as Aquaman. Aquaman claimed the throne of Atlantis for himself and became Atlantis' new emperor, thus also triggering an age of cooperation with the surface. In the 1980's, While the world's most powerful nations and alliances were preparing for the upcoming Third World War, Atlantis intended to toss its hat into the world wide struggle for global dominance. In 2007, Namor's son Kamar initiated the invasion of America, but the city of Atlantis was destroyed by the overcharged super-villain Nitro. Namor, who tried to evacuate the city, led the only survivors eastwards to Europe. Forming an alliance with his old ally Victor von Doom, sovereign of Latveria, the Atlanteans settled down in Eastern Europe. With the oceans being turned into a radiated, black sludge, the era of Atlantis finally ended - an era that stretched over many thousands of years and changed the fate of the whole world. Category:Countries